The Trail we Blaze
by Branwynn Z. Maddox
Summary: Tulio goes on a journey with his closest friend and partner, Miguel, on a search for the greatest treasure known to man. Not only do they find the gold, but something else along the way that they never would have expected. SLASH WARNING


Copyright Dreamworks for parts of the original script, the characters, the plot

Copyright Elton John for the music and lyrics

I don't own El Dorado or anything pertainint to the film, I am simply an avid fan who wishes to share a story with anyone who is interested. after all, the original intention before the film was decided as a children's movie was that Tulio and Miguel were meant to be lovers. So this is their story.

* * *

><p>"Our glorious city<p>

Was built by the divinities

By gods who saw fit To bestow

The gift of a paradise

Peaceful and harmonious upon

Us mere mortals below

And made El Dorado"

* * *

><p>Tulio yawns, blinks blearily as the morning sun pours in through the wide windows. He looks over at his partner, whose tousled tawny mane covers his forehead haphazardly as if he'd been with a woman all night... He stretches, mutters to himself,<p>

"I envy your dedication to sleep, Miguel ".

He sits up, slips silently out from under the sheets and tiptoes into the hall. His caution is less for his partner's sake and more to avoid waking the innkeepers. He walks down the corridor towards the bathroom where the shower is. The water is cold but somewhat refreshing.. "Ahh, clean for once in my life" he whispers to himself.

Miguel shifts in his sleep, only to be rudely shaken awake,

"Wh-what? I'm up!".

He glares up at Tulio, only to become extremely distracted by his partners shining well developed abs. He tries not to blush, then notices the tub and large sponge,

"What's that for?" he feels a tad nervous...

Tulio rolls his eyes, "if you insist on smelling like a pig, I shall refuse to remain in your company. Wash up, we have to leave soon".

He yanks the sheets off Miguel; trying to ignore the unclothed form of his partner... it always catches him by surprise, seeing Miguel in the buff. He wonders to himself, am I really losing it now? Is living in close quarters with him finally getting to me?

Miguel stretches, completely shameless as he washes himself, "my lord! This water is freezing!" he shivers...

Tulio rolls his eyes, "well excuse me, Your Highness, if the world doesn't revolve around providing you warm bathwater!"

Miguel doesn't register the sarcasm, or at least is ignoring it, "You're excused... But only because we're partners in crime.." he thinks 'sometimes I wish we were a different kind of partnership.. but I can never seem to get Tulio drunk enough for that these days..'

Tulio wonders what Miguel is thinking, bites his lip, and gets their things together so as to distract himself from his partner's very attractive body.

* * *

><p>Tulio tosses the dice, "Seven!"<p>

Surprisingly enough, he rolls a seven.

Miguel grins confidently, "All right!" and Tulio shouts "Yes!"

Tulio wonders what their life would be like if they had real jobs instead of working the streets as con men.

They begin to celebrate, singing while Miguel plays his guitar,  
>"Tons of gold for you "Hey!<br>Tons of gold for me Hey!  
>Tons of gold for we Hey!"<p>

But of course, that couldn't have been the end of it.

The large burly man before them shouts "One more roll!"

Tulio laughs, "uh, guys... YOU'RE BROKE! You got nothin' to bet with!"

"Oh yeah? I got this..." the man holds up a dusty old map.

Of course, Miguel, the easily impressed partner of his raises his eyebrows, "a map!"

Tulio gives the man an incredulous, almost insulted look, "a map?"

The man booms confidently, "A map. A map of the wonders of the New World"

Tulio gives Miguel a look but it's no use.

Miguel grabs it, "wow let's have a look."

The partners hold the map up in front of them, Miguel feels exited just thinking about the adventures he and Tulio could have in the New World. Of course, even with all their gold they still couldn't afford such a voyage.

Miguel turns his wide gaze to Tulio , "Tulio, look! El Dorado, the City of Gold. This could be our destiny, our fate."

Tulio sighs, gives him an exasperated look, "Miguel, if I believed in fate, I wouldn't be playing with loaded dice."

Miguel pouts, "but remember what we talked about at the market place this morning? It's as if the heavens were listening!"

Tulio flashes back to earlier that morning...

_Tulio and Miguel had just escaped the Inn before the Matron starded shouting after them. Miguel looked up, _

_"It sure is nice weather today. Oh, Tulio do you smell that?".  
><em>

_warm and spicy scents wafted through the air and Tulio nodded, "smells good but we only have a couple pesetas left..."  
><em>

_miguel wiggles his eyebrows, which sends a shiver down tulio's spine everytime, but he glares "no, we are not doing that again we almost got shot last time"  
><em>

_Miguel whimpers, "please please please? im starved, and so are you. we owe it to ourselves, Tulio"  
><em>

_Tulio sighs, when his partner gives him that look he almost always gives in, "fine, but if we get caught i'm blaming you."_

_They head through the market, nonchalantly taking turns flirting or shmoozing the vendors while the other swiped an apple or a tomato or a loaf of bread. By the time they were done they had a picnic fit for a king.  
><em>

_Miguel grins, slaps his partner on the shoulder, "well done Tulio, we've got ourselves a feast!"_

_The partners find asylum in an old barn on the edge of town, leaning against the tattered wall, watching the clouds, eating.  
><em>

_Miguel looks over at tulio and smiles, nudges him, "Tulio, one day we're gonna get out of here.."  
><em>

_tulio rolls his eyes,  
><em>

_"yeah, right" he takes a bite from an apple and some cheese.  
><em>

_Miguel frowns, shoves him "no, I'm serious.  
><em>

_We should leave Spain. Go on an adventure..."  
><em>

_Tulio sees that far off look in Miguel's eyes so often and he wishes he could turn those dreams to reality. But it's just not practical, so he knows there's no point in making promises he knows he can't keep, "maybe someday. If we ever manage to win enough gold" he laughs sadly..._

* * *

><p>Miguel pouts and whimpers again, and Tulio glares, "Not with the face. No, no, no, no, no."<p>

Of course, Tulio cracks, "All right, peewee. You're on!"

The man shakes his head, "Not with those! This time we use my dice. Ehh, got a problem with that?"

Tulio feels nervous and Miguel narrows his eyes "No..."

Tulio mutters under his breath at Miguel,

"I'm going to kill you", he shakes the dice,

"Come on, papa needs that crappy map!" he rolls, and it's a…

Miguel grins, "Seven!"

Tulio raises an eyebrow in surprise, "Seven... All right! Seven!" he looks up at Peewee,

"There it is! Well, nice doing business with you" he leans over to take their loot and his dice roll out.

Peewee pounds his fists on the ground and notices that the dice only roll seven. "Your dice are loaded!

Tulio tries to think fast and of course, it appears he will throw Miguel under the buss yet again, "What? You gave me loaded dice?" he glares and then backs up in false horror, bumping into the chest plate of a guard.

He turns and faces the guard, "he gave me loaded dice! Guard, arrest him!" he points emphatically at Miguel who stands there, catching on;

"You dare to impugn my honor? He was the one who was cheating! Arrest him! He tricked these sailors and took their money!" Miguel gestures at Tulio, glares.

Tulio looks offended, grabs Miguel's collar, "oh now I'm the thief?" he's caught slightly off guard by being this close to his partner's face, but then Miguel sneers, "yes"

Tulio laughs derisively, "take a look in the mirror, pal!"

Miguel raises an eyebrow, "oh, you better give them that money back or I'll," he reaches behind himself and draws a long sword, "En garde!" he holds up the sword and smirks.

Tulio looks around for a weapon of his own, reaching behind, "en garde yourself! I will give you the honor of a quick and painless death!" to his chagrin, he pulls out a dagger, "but not with that. Ha!" he draws a

broadsword, "I prefer to fight fairly. Aha!" he lunges and holds his sword to Miguel's chin, "Any last words?"

Miguel responds, leaning forward, "I will cut you to ribbons!"

They leap around each other, and find their way to the roof, above the staring townsfolk and yelling guards.

And so begins their swordfight, Miguel swings left only to be blocked by Tulio's sword.

Tulio grins "fool!"

Miguel advances, forcing his braggart of a partner to step back, "Such Mediocrity"

Tulio rolls his eyes, fights back, "let your sword do the talking!"

Miguel nods, laughs, "I will. It will be loquacious to a fault! Ha! Take that" he swipes towards his knees this time and barely misses.

Tulio almost loses his balance and glares, "you mincing fencing twit!" he swings and misses.

Miguel laughs, "You fight like my sister!" not realizing that he is only setting himself up Tulio smirks playfully, "I fought your sister. That's a compliment." He wiggles his eyebrows suggestively.

Miguel feels a stab of jealousy, "braggart!"

Tulio frowns, "heathen!" they continue to fight until Tulio gets tired and falls back.

Miguel holds his sword to his chin, but stops short as Tulio mutters, "not the face, not the face!"

Miguel helps his partner up, taking the moment to feel the smooth calluses of Tulio's hand, starts thinking about those hands when he remembers they're not alone. They turn around and face the people, "ladies and

gentlemen, we've decided it's a draw!"

* * *

><p>And, of course, only a few hours after they escape from one mess, they're in an even greater one.<p>

Tulio is in a slumped position in the corner of the holding cell. Miguel is playing with an old tin cup, humming to himself, "Tulio, what time is it?"

Tulio looks up through the grated door above them, "I'd imagine about midnight or so? What does it matter? Cortez is shipping us off to Cuba" he pouts, reaches back and takes his hair tie out, shakes his head and

reties it. He does this when hes stressed, and lately, that's about every two minutes.

Miguel scoots over and puts the cup down, "you know, you ought to relax... I'm sure we'll find a way out of here, but right now, we need to just take it easy. We can't do anything about it right now anyway..."

He loops his arm around Tulio's waist, smiles optimistically, leans closer, "you know, you look somewhat handsome in the moonlight" he smirks.

Tulio makes a face, "Miguel, what are you-" but he's interrupted as his blonde partner grips his hips and crushes his lips to his. Miguel blushes, breathing through his nose, he moves over Tulio, looking down into his

eyes. Tulio gasps when given the chance to finally breathe, trying to recover from the sudden attack.

Miguel pouts in his usual way, "Why do you look so shocked? It couldn't be because you didn't see me coming... I mean, I know I came on a little strong, but-"

Tulio makes a face halfway between amusement and frustration, "a little? You know, sometimes I wonder what goes through your head, Miguel... Treasure maps, adventure... Cuba. It's like you only see the fantasy in

life. I sit here and I'm feeling sore from sitting in a stinking wooden cargo hold in the hull of a ship all day. I'm tired and hungry and seasick. And you completely disregard all that by deciding it's a perfectly optimal

time to stem the rose... and you wonder why I'm surprised..."

A hurt expression flashes through Miguel's eyes, "oh, well... if that's how you truly feel. Perhaps I'll just leave you to yourself then..." and with that he levers himself off the boards beneath them and pushes himself up,

walks to the far corner of the cell and leans back in the corner, looking at the tin cup in his hands.

Tulio frowns,

"Hey that's... not what I meant...it's just..." he's got no clue what to say... Miguel is usually the one who... The one who states everything that's on his mind... but now, for the first time all day, he's silent. Tulio looks

up and decides that was a bad idea, because the expression on Miguel's face is no sexy pout, but a look of real hurt and sadness. One that Tulio hasn't seen in a long time. He sighs in resignation. If he wants his friend

to return to his usual chipper self by morning, he's going to have to do some major groveling, pride and dignity be damned.

Miguel soon drifts off to sleep, after having given up all expectation of Tulio coming over to cheer him up. He's sleeping like a rock, completely unaware of the forehead banging occurring on the other side of the holding

cell...

* * *

><p>Tulio has been attempting for the past hour to bang some sense into his head: 'I should apologize. I most certainly should not apologize! He's the one who.. The one who is acting like a spoiled child... Pouting in a<p>

corner... But what if that's my fault? What if I really did hurt him? What if this is not enough... what if what happened last autumn wasn't just a fluke...?'

_(A room in a dusty old inn above a bar)_

_"Hahahaaaaaaaaaaa, we did it, Miguel! We actually pulled it off!"_

_"I always knew we would, Tulio! Those Englishmen didn't know what hit 'em!"_

_Tulio rolls his eyes, "one of these days that personality of yours is gonna bite you in the ass, you overconfident git" he had stated amiably._

_At that moment, Miguel's expression turned a bit lusty,_

_"I wouldn't mind you biting me..."_

_Tulio's eyes shoot up, 'wow the rum must have gone to his head..' Tulio felt his blood rush in the opposite direction, however, at the sound of Miguel's voice._

_Miguel smirked, leaned in closer, "Would you like some assistance?..." he reached over and began to unfasten the ties of Tulio's trousers, only to be momentarily detained by a forceful hand on his wrist. Miguel looked_

_up into the eyes of his partner, and saw first some anger, then confusion, and then something a bit unreadable, and then the hand that trapped his released him... Miguel finished the task at hand and began to pull the_

_tight trousers down and his eyes widened at seeing his somewhat beautiful partner in this condition. He cleared his throat, and then looked up again as his fingertips ghosted over the taut, sensitive flesh...-_

_After what happened that long, warm night, Tulio found himself curled in his partner's arms, as if they were lovers... and he decided to leave early before he was forced to confront the tumultuous and ever-confusing_

_emotions coursing through him and making his stomach churn like the sea during a storm_

* * *

><p>Tulio groaned in frustration, his pants now uncomfortably tight, not unlike the memory he was just contemplating, "Damnit, maybe this really is happening..." he gets up, hardly able to take it anymore, he unfastens<p>

his trousers and drops them where he stands, walks over to his deadsleeper of a partner and kneels over him in nothing but his billowing, long shirt, brushing just past his knees. he pushes the golden hair out of the

closed eyes, "wow... those eyelashes truly are the longest I've ever seen... it is unseemly for a man to be more attractive than all the women in his village..." he leans down and awakes his partner with a heated kiss...

this is going to be yet another long night...


End file.
